


Hot Chocolate and Gang Wars

by mara_cas



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alex is a great character who deserves more love, Ash and Eiji being not so subtly cute, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Just a Really Fluffy Fic, M/M, This is for everyone who love Ash's gang, no pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 22:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17109710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mara_cas/pseuds/mara_cas
Summary: If Alex was confused by the power Eiji had on his boss, he knew better than to open his mouth about it.In which the gang drinks hot chocolate, Alex reflects on Ash and Eiji's relationship, and everyone is swept off their feet by the magic of Christmas.





	Hot Chocolate and Gang Wars

Eiji entered the room with a plate charged with cups. A warm scent of chocolate accompanied him. 

“We’re out of coffee, so I made you all hot chocolate! Plus, it’s perfect to go with the cold weather today.”

Alex retained a sigh. Hot chocolate? Were they really going to drink hot chocolate while talking about gang’s turfs and battle plans? He hasn’t had drank hot cocoa since he had cut ties with his family, many years ago. He must have been a child then. 

Alex liked Eiji, he really did. It was refreshing to have a guy so innocent and sincere around. And his boldness was so impressive. The man had his respect ever since Alex had witnessed him slap the boss awake, while the entire gang was shaking with fear behind him. Alex had never witnessed anyone stand up to the boss like he did, and even less get away with it. 

Not that Eiji had anything to fear. Alex had never heard the boss even raise his tone with him. Although Bones and Kong had told him that Eiji and Ash had had an argument a night, not so long ago. Alex still had troubles picturing it.

The boss was just so… weird, when he was with Eiji. A good weird, though. His voice became sweeter, his lips raised up in a smile, his eyes shined. Definitively uncommon, but not bad. 

Alex recalled that time the gang had gone to rescue their boss from the Corsican mafia, only to find him already saving his own ass, gun in hand, looking like a demon escaping from hell. 

This wasn’t really surprising coming from Ash Lynx. 

What was odder, however, was how close he held that stranger that was with him. How he had asked Alex to take care of him, insisting Alex had to never let him out of his sight until Ash come back. 

And what was perfectly astounding was how this boy had asked Ash to come back safe, how he had said he would wait for him forever, his concern evident in his voice.  
No need to be a genius to understand the boss shared a special relationship with that Asian boy. 

Then, the boss had installed himself and Eiji in this big condo; and while Alex understood the apartment was a strategic place for Ash’s plans, he also knew Eiji’s presence there had nothing to do with his involvement in their plot. 

Alex hadn’t minded it when Ash had begun to ask him to stay at the place to watch over Eiji. He had figured rapidly it was also his way of making sure Eiji wasn’t alone all day in the apartment. 

No, Alex never minded that. First, he had been curious to learn more about this Japanese who had his boss wrapped around his little finger. Then, he had immediately warmed up to him. Eiji was maybe the nicest person he knew and staying at the apartment with him was never boring. 

 

Alex glanced at Ash to see his reaction to the whole hot cocoa stuff. The boss raised an eyebrow at Eiji, but when he talked, it was with that special soft tone that Alex had never heard addressed to anyone but Eiji. 

“Hot chocolate? Don’t we have tea or anything else?”

Eiji sat beside Ash and took a cup. “I wanted to drink hot cocoa,” he explained, his lips stretching into a small pout. 

Ash shook his head, mimicking exasperation, but the look in his eyes was undeniably fond. 

Alex resigned himself. They were going to drink hot cocoa, and they were going to enjoy it.

They all took a cup and Alex tried to catch Bones’ eyes, but the man was too busy grinning at his hot chocolate to notice him. Apparently, Alex was the only one to think hot cocoa didn’t go well with talks about murders and risked strategies. 

“I haven’t had hot chocolate in forever.” Ash whispered, his voice so low Alex thought he had misheard. His hands around his cup, Ash had a wistful smile on his face and his eyes were unfocused. 

Alex wasn’t one to care about how beautiful his boss was, but at this instant, even him had to admit Ash looked absolutely angelic with his soft expression, his blond eyelashes lowered toward his cup, concealing his sharp green eyes. 

“Me neither.” added Kong, enthusiastic. His face lit up with the happiness of a child, he was drinking his cocoa with long, eager sips. 

Alex took his own cup and approached it of his lips. The aroma sent through his eyes images he thought he had long forgotten. A day of playing in snow with friends. The nice grandma that would watch over them, wrapping them up in warm clothes, with such care no one would ever complain that the clothes were smelly and eaten by the mites. 

Alex raised his nose from the beverage and looked around him. A comfortable silence had fallen over the group, everyone seeming lost in thoughts. 

Eiji was looking at them with a satisfied smirk. That was the thing Alex found to be the most powerful about Eiji. He was surely the only person he knew with the power to, even just for a moment, transform a gang of thugs into lost children, and manage to make them happy about it. 

 

That day, the meeting had gone nowhere, and Alex, Kong and Bones had left the apartment with no new directions. But none of them would even think to complain about it. 

Snow began to fall on their way out. Bones raised his head and caught a flake on his tongue. Alex snorted and rolled his eyes at the childish gesture. 

Bones turned to him. “Say, Alex. What are you doing for Christmas?”

Alex threw him a weird look. Bones should know that Alex never did anything for the holiday, or for any holiday, really. It was like that since they knew each other. It wasn’t like Bones did anything either, usually. Alex wasn’t even sure one could celebrate Christmas without a family and a house with a chimney. 

“We could do something together,” enchained Kong, and Alex wondered if his friends had already discussed this together beforehand. 

Alex shrugged, affecting detachment. “Why not? It’s not like I will be doing anything anyway.” 

He tried to picture what people meant by “celebrating Christmas” in the movies, and what Bones and Kong expected of him.

“But I’m not cooking or whatever.” he continued. People were supposed to cook a big feast, no?

Bones laughed. “We looked up some recipes with Eiji. He wanted to try American Christmas food or something.” 

Alex grimaced. “Don’t try anything too crazy, I don’t want to poison myself.” 

Bones smiled. “No promises!” he replied in a sing-song voice. 

Alex put his hands in his jacket’s pockets and pretended to be annoyed, but in reality, he was hiding a secret smile in his scarf. 

He didn’t know if it was because of the hot cocoa, the dancing snow or the Christmas lights all around them, but he could nearly picture it, the infamous spirit of Christmas everyone was talking about in the dumb TV movies he had watched when he was a kid. 

He shot in the snow with his foot, splashing Bones as he did so. The man shrieked like a cat and Alex didn’t try to contain his laugh. Maybe being childish once in a while wasn’t that bad, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Please, feel free to write what you’ve think of this fic in the comments, it always make my day brighter!  
> And merry Christmas to all of you :)
> 
> My twitter [here](https://twitter.com/maracacias?lang=fr)


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